My uncle had gone to take his breakfast. I descended to the cabin. I found him sitting with his face resting on his hands on the table. He did not notice my entrance. I heard him groan deeply.
“I hope, sir, you are not ill or wounded,” said I; for I thought he must be hurt.
“No, lad, no,” he answered; “but it’s a sad thing to have so many of one’s men killed and hurt by a rascally smuggler. But we must try and catch the fellow, and then get the doctor’s aid as fast as we can for those to whom it may yet be of use. But what do you come for?”
I made my report. In an instant he shook off the feeling which was oppressing him, and springing on deck, he ordered the helm to be kept up and the mainsheet eased off till we were standing after the supposed smuggler. This was our best point of sailing, and probably the lugger’s worst; at all events that rig of vessel has generally the greatest advantage on a wind. Our square-sail, square-topsail, and every sail the cutter could carry was now set, to overtake the chase; and the breeze freshening as the day advanced, we bowled away at a famous rate.
“Do you think, Hanks, we have a chance of catching her?” I asked, as the old mate and I were intently watching her.
“As to catching her, depends upon circumstances. If we get the strength of the breeze before her, and she doesn’t hide away in another fog; but she has a long start, and we are out of luck this time, to my mind. However, why is it, D’Arcy, you are so anxious to have another brush with the chap? I thought you had had sufficient taste of his quality.”
“To punish him for killing poor Thole there,” answered I, for I felt very bitter against the smugglers for the harm they had done.
“I thought so,” answered Hanks. “It’s the way with most people. Before a blow is struck, they are all peaceable enough; but the moment blood is drawn, they are all as blood-thirsty as a savage.”
“I hope you don’t think me a blood-thirsty savage,” said I.
“I wouldn’t trust you, D’Arcy, my boy,” he replied. “When the blood boils, all the ferocity of the heart bubbles up to the top, and we feel more like wild beasts than men.”